The Toronto Maple Leafs will have their captain in the lineup Tuesday night when they face the Los Angeles Kings.
John Tavares has missed the last seven NHL games with a broken finger suffered Oct. 16 after taking a shot off the hand from Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly in a 4-3 loss in Washington.
The 29-year-old Tavares declared himself ready to go Tuesday morning at Scotiabank Arena.
"Made some really good progress,'' he said. "Excited to get back out.''
The Leafs have gone 3-2-2 without Tavares.
-- With files from the Canadian Press